That Africa’s GDP
growth has been both unprecedented and impressive is unequivocal. However, the impact of growth on the livelihoods
of majority of Africans is anything but unequivocal. Are Africa’s children
better fed, healthier and in school?
Africa’s growth in the past two decades has
not been translated into tangible or measurable wellbeing gains by ordinary
folk. Growth remains stuck at the top. Moreover, the sectors that have
contributed significantly to Africa’s soaring GDP – telecommunications,
insurance, banking, transportation, insurance, services, extractives – demand
the least of the abundance of semi-skilled labor on the continent.
Africa’s agriculture and its rural economy,
which could provide jobs to hundreds of millions is in precipitous decline
along with the rural economy that has been deprived of investments in vital
social infrastructure; especially water, health and education. Furthermore, China’s
stranglehold on manufacturing has precipitated an inexorable trend of
de-industrialization.
It is hardly surprising that unemployment,
especially among Africa’s youth is over 50 percent. The gains on maternal and infant
survival are miniscule. Millions of African children who survive beyond their
fifth birthday are stunted and have to live with the lifetime consequences of
cognitive impairment. Compared
with normal children, stunted children: score 7 percent lower on math tests;
are 19 percent less likely to read a simple sentence at age 8, and 12 percent
less likely to write a simple sentence; and, are 13 percent less likely to be
in the appropriate grade for their age at school.
A report just released by the World Bank, Poverty in Rising Africa, shows that the
rate of poverty reduction in Africa is significantly slower compared to other
developing regions. According to the report the number of Africa’s poor people
increased from 288 million in 1990 to 389 million in 2012. This is despite the
fact that the proportion of the population living below the poverty line has
declined from 57 percent in 1990 to 43 percent in 2012.
But the report is not just about Africa’s
material poverty. The report reveals a worrying poverty of reliable data to
track Africa’s economic progress. Africa’s poverty rates are derived from
surveys that use old, unreliable measures of production and consumption. An average
of 4 consumption surveys per country were conducted in Africa between 1990 and
2012. About one survey was conducted every 3 years in the rest of the world
between 1990 and 2012.
In his book, Poor Numbers: How we are misled by African development statistics and
what to do about it, Morten Jerven offers an assessment of the inaccuracy of
development statistics and the policy implications of data problems. Understanding
and addressing poverty on the continent is more complicated because country
level statistics are limited and of poor quality.
However, the solution to Africa’s poor
numbers is not simply more funding for data collection. There is need to
enhance the legitimacy of wide range data providers, acknowledging their roles
and enabling them to collect reliable data for planning and tracking of development
progress.
No comments:
Post a Comment